50 Solutions
A State-by-State Celebration of the Creativity and Resilience of Communities

Photo by Amy Barber

Navigating a Country on the Edge of Change

By Christa Hillstrom

We tracked some of our favorite solutions from each of the 50 states, looking for ideas and innovations that show what can happen when people come together to make their communities better.

These ideas addressed some of our country’s greatest needs—starting with the need to safeguard and strengthen democracy. All around the country, we found people making determined moves away from fossil fuels; breakthrough economic ideas that create quality jobs and boost real wealth—not just profits; projects designed to grow healthier food and happier people; and groups who have discovered ways to respect, protect, and empower everyone.

So how did we choose?

We looked for solutions that came from the ground up. Though some of them led to bigger policy changes, they all had at their roots the passion and organizing power of regular people.

We looked for solutions that could be models—though they grew from the needs and genius of particular places, they can be adopted and hacked to change things elsewhere. Some of them already have been; some of them were inspired by what others far away did.

Perhaps most importantly, we looked for solutions that by their very nature brought communities closer together.

Here’s what we found.

Hover over each state to browse solutions, and click a state to read the story. States are color-coded by topic for focused reading.

Tap a state once for more information. Tap again (once on Android, twice on Apple devices) to read the story. States are color-coded by topic for focused reading.